it was a price house conservatives demanded for delaying the debt ceiling just by three months. so this is a deal that republicans made with their members just this week, a deal that will define our budget arguments over the next week. they made this deal, if you don't force us into a politically disastrous showdown, we'll do it with an equally disastrous budget deal. i don't understand what is happening in the republican party right now, but it is not good for them. joining me now, robert greenstein, a man who always understands exactly what is happening. bob, good to see you. >> good to see you, ezra. >> so i guess my question is how, how do you make the budget balance in ten years, and keep to all of these different promises? do you know budget -- you know budgets better than anybody i know, so how? >> so there are three things to start with, and you have already mentioned perhaps the most important. he will take advantage of the revenue increases from the fiscal cliff deal. the second thing is since ryan issued his budget a year ago, the congressional budget office who does